Scientists finally have the answer about what causes mass extinction on earth 420 million years ago. Scientists have found out the reasons for the mast extinction of earth. They named it as Lau/Kozlowski extinction.
This research was done by researchers from Florida State University. This extinction wiped out about 23% of all marine animals from Earth. According to scientists the Lau/Kozlowski mass extinction took place in the late prehistoric Silurian period.
This mass extinction took place 420 million years ago. To find out the reason for this extinction was one of the main challenges for scientists. Scientists however made it clear that the mass extinction was not because of any volcanic eruption or asteroid impact.
The scientists defined this mass extinction as ‘rapid and widespread depletion of oxygen in the global oceans’. This was one of the most dramatic extinction scientists have ever observed. The research solves many paleoclimate puzzles.
This research made worried about the modern oceans because the same mass extinction can occur here too. The researches’ co-author Seth Young said that this research makes it one of the little extinction that created large-scale declines in biodiversity.
He also added that it also has opened windows for future climate scenarios. Scientists have also mentioned the cause of significant climate and environmental changes. The disruption of the earth’s carbon cycle responsible for the burial of enormous amounts of organic matter causes these changes. However, there has been no relationship found between Lau extinction and the earth’s carbon cycle.
Advanced Geochemical methods were used by scientists. This includes thallium isotope, manganese concentration and sulfur isotope measurements from important sites in Latvia and Sweden.
These methods enabled them to reconstruct a timeline of Ocean deoxygenating with relation to the Lau extinction and subsequent changes to the global carbon cycle. The team confirmed that the decline in Oxygen rate was the cause of this mass extinction.
